Curtain weighting systems are often used in venues wherein it is important that a curtain hang straight. For example, such weighting systems are most preferably used in situations where the sweeping motion of bi-parting curtains, as they open and close (whether activated manually or by motorized means), must be smooth and pleasant in accord with visual and sensory expectations of, for example, a theater audience.
Curtain weighting systems may further be used in industrial applications, wherein it is important that a curtain be returned quickly and accurately to a closed position. An example of such an application is an industrial loading dock door comprising a vinyl or plasticized curtain of uniform or segmented design, or a screen, wherein forklifts, pallet-moving equipment, or the like, repeatedly traverse the door and curtain arrangement.
Curtain weighting systems are additionally beneficial to ensure that folds and wrinkles may smooth or hang out faster. This is especially true with regard to theater curtains and other curtains used in public facilities, where the fabrics for such curtains have been treated with flame retardants (as required under local fire code for public safety), but where typical flame retardant treatments, especially those used in association with cotton fabrics, render impractical the use of steaming or ironing processes for removal of fold lines and wrinkles. Specifically, steaming or ironing processes can degrade or destroy the flame retardant compound, creating an unsafe condition, and/or can bring the flame retardant to the surface of the fabric, thereby leaving a white residue on the fabric surface and thus ruining the curtain. Of course, steaming or ironing, in general, may also cause the fabric to shrink from its finished size. Accordingly, curtain weighting systems may beneficially contribute to the smooth appearance of such curtains, while avoiding the consequences of adverse steaming and ironing processes.
Curtain weighting systems may be applied to curtains, either in horizontally or vertically disposed arrangement, most often within a hem, depending upon the user's application. Individual weights are sometimes placed within a pocket formed adjacent a lower margin of the curtain, or near or within a hem, or are pinned to an appropriate area near the curtain margin. Such prior art curtain weighting systems are of varying designs, most typically of a corded or chained arrangement. Exemplars of such designs may be seen with reference to United States Patent Application Publication Number US 2003/0056333 to Boyle, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,577,307 and 3,673,045 to Baier et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,151 to Schmitz. Some systems comprise weighted pins, as may be seen with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 1,936,198 to Kirsch, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,828,678 to Peterman et al.
Other systems, such as may be seen with reference to FIG. 2 herein (Crown Novelty Works Corp., Holly Springs, Miss., USA), comprise a plurality of individual lead weights, sewn or otherwise glued to a strip of backing material, the backing material typically being of cotton. This strip bearing the plurality of lead weights is then surrounded by facing strips, again typically of cotton material, and closed by sewing along the top and bottom lengths of the strips (as shown in FIG. 2).
It will be immediately recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that the above-referenced systems typically utilize lead weights due to their ease of puncturing during sewing processes. However, it is well known that lead is a hazardous material, and may cause or contribute to chronic conditions such as kidney damage, nervous system damage, hypertension, and reproductive system damage. Furthermore, when lead is heated to high temperatures, such as might be experienced during a fire, toxic decomposition products are released, and explosion dangers are possible if placed in contact with water. For these reasons, lead is not a preferred weighting material for use in private or public applications, and it has thus become increasingly difficult to secure domestic supplies of lead for fabrication of the required weights.
It will also be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that such prior art weighting systems are often less than optimally conducive to mechanical division from strip form into separate weight units, or into selected lengths. This is because cutting between the weights leaves, at best, an unfinished fabric edge that may unravel without end. At worst, cutting the strip between weights leaves open the individual segment at one or both ends, thus exposing the leaden weight therewithin. Most often, both circumstances occur.
Further disadvantageously, the components of such prior art weighting systems are sewn or stitched together according to well-known, single-line seams. This manner of construction may further contribute to the unraveling of fabric edges, together with exposure and/or loss of the internal leaden weights. Yet additionally, such prior art systems are often not flame retardant and are not typically subject to flame testing.
Thus, it is clear that there is an unmet need for a weight system, with associated methods of fabrication and use of such a weight system, that avoids the use of leaden weights; that allows for convenient, safe, and secure separation of a larger “roll stock” of weighted ribbon into smaller selected lengths of multi-weight ribbon, or into individual weight segments; that provides for securely fused edges or seals, even upon separation of a larger “roll stock” of weighted ribbon into smaller selected lengths of multi-weight ribbon, or into individual weight segments; that avoids the use of sewn or stitched seams as a structural component of the weighted ribbon; that is pretreated to provide flame retardant characteristics or is inherently flame retardant; and that is convenient and safe to fabricate and to use.